How is air canada executive 1st class on their trans atlantic flight. i've had it on their caribbean and domestic flight but never tried it on a long haul with a big plane before so just would like to know what to expect. the route would be montreal to paris

It should be quite nice. You might want to check the Aeroplan forum on flyertalk.com for discussions, and there's a trip report (mixed reviews) of a recent flight from London (Heathrow) to Canada in the "trip reports" section of the Community forum on flyertalk.

If you are interested in the type of seat the Air Canada web site gives good information about the aircraft used on a particular flight. I noticed that they will be flying their new 777 on the dates I tried in Noember. Nice lie flat beds in first on that one. Normally there is a lot more room in first on the long planes than on flights within North America. There are exceptions so check.

The earlier flight 870 is on their new 777. The later 884 is on their old 767. They're gradually converting all their 767s to have the same herringbone configuration with flat beds in 1-1-1. All of their 777 have 1-2-1 flat beds in 1-2-1.

Pick the flight with the 777.

That early evening Montreal-Paris route has had an A330 on it for years. Like Gavin, I noticed they slipped the 777 in there this fall. Given a choice of AC's fleet at the moment, rkkwan's absolutely right: pick the 777 if you can get it. You'll get the nice new lie-flat seats.

Regardless of seating, you'll find AC's cabin service a bit different on trans-Atlantic "executive first". You'll be offered a drink before take off, then another beverage service after the seat belt sign comes off. There will be an appetizer, then a choice of main dishes, followed by some kind of desert or cheese, if I recollect properly. You'll also have a choice of wine, tea, coffee, and soft drinks, and you'll be offered a glass of port with the cheese.

Lights are dimmed for a couple of hours and then there will be a light breakfast two hours out of CDG: coffee, orange juice, yoghurt, fruit, rolls ...

Coming home is pretty much the same except you'll have a cold light snack before landing in Montreal.

Anselm

Meant to add: the crews will be fluently bilingual. On that route you will likely be addressed in French first, but you can obviously use the language of your choice.

AA